Punkin' Chunkin' 2010

The first weekend in November we invited my brother to spend the night with us in DE for the World Championship Punkin' Chunkin' competition just south of Dover.  I have loved living near my brother for a change (down the road in Baltimore, MD) but it was temporary.  Tuesday his company transferred him to Seattle.  We knew it was coming, so we used our time together wisely, and Punkin' Chunkin' was part of that.  My cousin Matt and his wife Amy also live in Baltimore and decided to join us.

We began the festivities by supporting Matt in his bike race on the north end of the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) peninsula.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised at how often we could see Matt and cheer him on.  The course was roped off in a state park and you could run across the racers' path at your own risk to get to other viewing areas.  It really wasn't that risky.  :)

Matt's the one in white.  Can't see it well, but it's a Storm Trooper jersey for the Halloween season. :)

I've always thought of Matt as athletic, but holy buckets these riders were tough!  Talk about endurance.  The race lasted around 45 minutes and was full of obstacles, natural and man-made.

Oh, and it had rained the night before so some areas were nice and muddy.

Yep.  Half his tire is in the mud.  Just look at his quad muscle.  Crazy!

Hats off to Matt and all the riders for a job well done.  As we waited for Matt to cool down Scott snapped a couple of photos of Grant and myself.  I knew I wouldn't see him again until Thanksgiving, and that would be the last time before he moved.  Thank goodness for great pics.  Seeing my brother laugh makes me so happy!

Finally we headed down the Delmarva Peninsula to drop Bailey Beagle (Matt and Amy's dog) at our house to play with Alley.  He'd had a hard morning cheering on his daddy!

Then on we drove to Punkin' Chunkin'.  We knew we'd be catching the tail end of the competition for the day, but there were many other things going on:  concerts, concessions, Miss Punkin' Chunkin' Pageant.  It was gonna be great.  Forty-five minutes later we were at the end of a VERY long line of cars that the GPS indicated was still three miles from the event!  Only certainties in life are death and taxes...and event parking madness.  After 25 minutes and only 6 car lengths we called it quits, pulled a U-ey, and headed to the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milford.  Best decision EVUH!  Greatest beers (like, 32 microbrews or something) and fabulous food.  I recommend the crab cake sandwich with the Odd-Umm beer (only available in the fall).  Amen.  That night will go down in history as one of my faves with my family.  Laughed until I cried!  And how smart of Dogfish to put their merchandise stand right outside the bar's doors.  This drunken crowd scored lots of swag (Or not, since we paid for it and swag is technically free stuff.  Whatevs!).

The following morning we made the drive back to Punkin' Chunkin', sans Matt and Amy as they headed back to B'more the night before.  We were determined to see chunkin' greatness.  We arrived as the air cannons began competition.  How impressive!  The power of these machines was incredible.  Some of them chunked so hard they made "pie", where the punkin' explodes on launch, resulting in a score of 0.  If pie was avoided, all eyes were in the sky, searching for the spec that was the punkin' (never did catch one on film).  Height, speed, distance.  All were impressive!

As the morning ended we took a lunch break in the car with some fries and funnel cakes.  Yep.  Healthy.  We rejoined the crowd at the catapultes just in time to see Jamie from Myth Busters.  He and Adam were hosting as the Science Channel taped the events.  No, we didn't make it on TV.  At least that we could tell.  We were in the back of the crowd where it was easier to see launches and spot punkin's.  My only regret is that we couldn't see the spotters in the field that came thisclose to getting creamed by the runaway punkins!  Heh.

But let me tell y'all, THESE machines are where it's at!  They may not launch as high, as far, or as fast as the air cannons, but the craftsmanship and engineering involved is fascinating!  Scott was drooling.  I literally could see the wheels spinning in his head.  Don't be surprised if he winds up IN the competition next year.

I'm so glad we went back the next morning.  Chunkin' weekend may be my favorite one since moving here!  Check out the details here, or watch the Science Channel to see punkins fly!